Highlights

European Citizenship at the Crossroads

This book examines the changing role played by the European Union and international standards on loss and acquisition of nationality. It provides a comparative analysis of EU Member States regulations, administrative practices, court rulings and statistical data on questions related to loss of nationality and European citizenship. It assesses the multifaceted repercussions of the supranational venues of judicial and legal accountability over states autonomy and competences at times of deciding who is and who is not a citizen. The following questions are examined: to what the extent do EU Member States still hold the exclusive competence over domestic decisions in nationality matters? How do international and European legal principles and standards, as well as case-law by European courts progressively affect their margin of manoeuvre at times of deciding who is and who is not a ‘citizen’? What are the repercussions of their obligations in safeguarding citizenship of the Union?
List of contentsPreface
Gerard-René de Groot and Sergio Carrera NuñezAbout the Authors
Abbreviations
List of Tables and Figures
Foreword
Zeta Georgiadou
PART I: LOSS AND QUASI-LOSS OF NATIONALITY IN THE EUChapter 1
Introduction: European Citizenship at a Crossroads
Sergio Carrera Nuñez and Gerard-René de GrootChapter 2
Survey on Rules on Loss of Nationality in International
Treaties and Case Law
Gerard-René de GrootChapter 3
A Comparative Analysis of Regulations on Involuntary
Loss of Nationality in the European Union
Gerard-René de Groot and Maarten Peter VinkChapter 4
Reflections on Quasi-Loss of Nationality from
Comparative, International and European PerspectivesGerard-René de Groot and Patrick WauteletChapter 5
Mapping Statistics on Loss of Nationality in the EU:
A New Online Database
Maarten Peter Vink and Ngo Chun Luk
PART II: NATIONAL PERSPECTIVES AND DEVELOPMENTSChapter 6
Loss of Nationality in the Nordic Countries 185
Eva ErsbøllChapter 7
Deprivation of Citizenship:
The Latvian Example and EU Perspective
Kristine KrumaChapter 8
Is it Possible to Lose the Hungarian Nationality?
Judit TóthChapter 9
Iberian Nationality Legislation and Sephardic Jews:
‘With due regard to European law’?
Hans Ulrich Jessurun d’OliveiraChapter 10
Attribution of Spanish Nationality to Children Born in Spain with the
Purpose of Avoiding Situations of Statelessness at Birth.
Aurelia Álvarez Rodríguez and Guayasén
Marrero GonzálezChapter 11
How Much Does EU Citizenship Cost? The Maltese Citizenship-for-Sale
Affair: A Breakthrough for Sincere Cooperation in Citizenship of the Union?
Sergio Carrera Nuñez
PART III
ROTTMANN IN THE COURTS OF THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION:
A collection of judgements, pending cases and caselaw notes
1. AUSTRIA
Gerard-René de Groot
1.1. CASE 1: An Austrian husband of Macedonian origin
1.1.1. Text of the judgement
1.1.2. Case Note
1.2. CASE 2: An Austrian wife of Nigerian origin
1.2.1. Text of the judgement
1.2.2. Case Note
1.3. CASE 3: An Austrian husband of Turkish origin
1.3.1. Text of the judgement
1.3.2. Case Note
2. BELGIUM
Patrick Wautelet
2.1. CASE 4: Two Belgian children born in China
2.1.1. Text of the judgement
2.1.2. Case Note
3. CYPRUS
Nicoletta Charalambidou
3.1. CASE 5
3.1.1. Text of the judgement
3.1.2. Case Note
4. DENMARK
Eva Ersbøll
4.1. PENDING CASE
4.1.1. Case description
5. GERMANY
Gerard-René de Groot
5.1. CASE 6: The fate of Janko Rottmann
5.1.1. Text of the judgement
5.1.2. Case Note
5.2. CASE 7: A German with Turkish roots
5.2.1. Text of the judgement
5.2.2. Case Note
6. LATVIA
Kristine Kruma
6.1. CASE 8: A Latvian with a Russian background
6.1.1. Text of the judgement: Court of First Instance
6.1.2. Text of the judgement: Latvian Supreme Court
6.1.3. Case Note
7. MALTA
Daniela DeBono
7.1. CASE 9
7.1.1. Text of the judgements: First Hall of the Constitutional Court
7.1.2. Text of the judgements: Court of Appeals of the Constitutional Court
7.1.3. Case Note
8. THE NETHERLANDS
Ngo Chun Luk
8.1. Combined Case Note
8.2. CASE 10: Parental error
8.3. CASE 11: Syrian, not Iraqi
8.4. CASE 12: Unintentional fraud
8.5. CASE 13: Fictitious parentage
8.6. CASE 14: Bigamous Egyptian
8.7. CASE 15: Hidden criminal antecedents
8.8. CASE 16: Identity fraud in Limburg
8.9. Final Remarks
8.10. Text of Judgments
9. THE NETHERLANDS
Gerard-René de Groot
9.1. PENDING CASE 2: Dutch twins?
9.1.1. Case description
10. SPAIN
Guayasén Marrero González
10.1. CASE 17: Temporary residence permit on the grounds of exceptional circumstances (social integration)
10.1.1. Text of the judgement
10.1.2. Case Note
11. UNITED KINGDOM
11.1. PENDING CASE 3: A British Vietnamese involved in terrorism?
11.1.1. Appeal: Court of Appeal of England and Wales
11.1.2. Final appeal: Supreme Court – case description
12. EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Gerard-René de Groot
12.1. PENDING CASE 4: A Maltese husband of Egyptian origin
12.1.1. Case description
12.1.2. Comments

Humanitarian Intervention as an Exception to the Prohibition on the Use of ForcePetra Zvržina

The core objective of the United Nations is to strive towards peace and security in international community. Recent flows of refugees to Europe have led to wonder how the international community could help both people facing abuses of their fundamental rights, and also European countries to which they are immigrating. However, since 1945, the use of force has been prohibited with no mention of interventions for humanitarian purposes. The question remains, when unauthorised humanitarian intervention as a last resort measure can be justified in a world of jus cogens prohibition of the use of force.
In public international law, new rules of customary law emerge through sufficient State practice and opinio juris, therefore it might turn out that humanitarian interventions will be justified under customary international law. Always when concerned with the protection of human rights, specific criteria shall be drawn in order to prevent abuses. The present book is a master thesis, which is going to answer the question of justifiability of the use of force for humanitarian purposes without the United Nations Security Council approval, drawn from Iraq and Kosovo cases, and evolving customary international law.
“If humanitarian intervention is indeed an unacceptable assault on sovereignty, how should we respond to a Rwanda, to a Srebrenica – to gross and systematic violations of human rights that offend every precept of our common humanity?” (Kofi Annan, Millennium Report of Secretary-General of the United Nations, 2000)

Thoughts on Article 15 of the European Convention on Human RightsP. Kempees

Article 15 of the European Convention on Human Rights allows States, in time of “war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation”, to take measures derogating from their obligations to protect human rights.
This brief monograph by a member of the Registry of the European Court of Human Rights offers a personal view on the possibilities of derogation in practice. Its aim is to inform discussion on the relevance today of Article 15 as part of the Convention system. Its main focus is on armed conflict both international and non-international and on terrorism. It makes proposals to breathe new life into Article 15.

Overview of the Case-Law of the European Court of Human RightsRegistry of ECHR

Every year, the European Court of Human Rights delivers a large number of judgments and an even greater number of decisions, thus adding to its already formidable body of case-law. This can make it difficult for people outside the Court to know which cases break new ground or address new issues. An increasingly important aspect of the Court’s work has thus become to identify such cases and to disseminate them in a convenient and accessible format.
The annual Overview series, available in English and French, seeks to respond to that need by focusing on the most important cases the Court deals with each year. All the cases are selected by the Court’s Jurisconsult’s Directorate on the basis of their jurisprudential interest. In addition to the cases chosen for publication in the Court’s Reports of Judgments and Decisions, they include a number of other cases that raise issues of general interest, establish new principles, or develop or clarify the case-law. The approach has been to draw attention to the salient points, allowing the reader to appreciate the jurisprudential significance of a particular case.